Grilled Chicken Hearts for Supper

You may have noticed already, but we like offal at our house.  Offal is all the edible parts of an animal that aren't the usual retail meat cuts.  Offal is one of those things that is under utilized by most here in the US.  Not only is most offal more affordable but organ meats tend to have more nutritional benefit than muscle meats.  Give them a try and you might be surprised.

I don't remember when I first had chicken hearts.  When I was growing up, ready cut chicken parts weren't nearly as common as they are now.  I learned how to take apart a whole chicken from my maternal grandmother.  Of course, whole chickens come with the heart, liver, and gizzard in a small bag inside the chicken.  My grandmother would fry them right along with the chicken.  It turns out well for us since I prefer the heart, my good wife prefers the gizzard, and we both like the liver so we each get the piece we like and split the liver.

One of the benefits of living in a larger city on the east coast is the availability of a wide variety of ethnic grocery stores.  One of our favorites is called Grand Mart.  It is primarily Asian and Hispanic foods plus some other types of foods.  They have a wide selection of produce, a good seafood section, and a well stocked meat department with lots of offal on display.  One of our routine purchases is a package of chicken hearts as this is the only place I've found just the hearts available.

Grilled Chicken Hearts were accompanied by grilled yellow squash and zucchini and by pick eye purple hull peas.  The yellow squash and the zucchini came from our garden and the peas were canned from last year's crop.  You can't beat home grown veggies and canning them lets you enjoy them throughout the year.  The good wife spends many hours canning the produce of our garden.

Pint jar of peas

Grilled Chicken Hearts

10 - 12 chicken hearts per person
season salt
garlic powder
bamboo skewers

Thread the chicken hearts on a pair of skewers so they are lightly touching.  Season with the season salt and garlic powder on both sides.  Put on a pre-heated grill on medium heat.  Cook 3 - 4 minutes per side until they are done to about medium.  That will have them done without drying them out.

Grilled Squash

Slice squash in 1/4 inch thick slices and place in a large bowl.  Drizzle with good olive oil and toss to coat evenly.  Put on hot grill and season, I used Uncle T's grill seasoning.  Grill for 4 - 5 minutes or until lightly browned and then turn over and grill till that side is browned.

On the grill beginning to cook

Pink Eye Purple Hull Peas

1 pint canned peas
1 large clove garlic
1 medium Serrano pepper
1 Tbs bacon grease

Put the peas in a pot.  Mince the garlic and the Serrano pepper and add to pot.  Add the bacon grease then put on the stove to get hot. 

A lovely tasty supper

Pink Eye Purple Hull Peas are in the same family as Black Eye Peas so you can use those if that is all you can find.

The grill pan that the squash was cooked on was found at Bed Bath & Beyond.  It is non-stick and definitely keeps the squash/zucchini slices from falling through the grates.

Since this is Summer and the time when most people use their grills, this is a good time to give these a try.

Uncle T

Gnocchi with Asparagus and Bacon

I've had Gnocchi before a time or two but it was in restaurants.  In case you're not familiar with Gnocchi, it basically is an Italian dumpling.  Usually in the US they are made with potatoes but in Italy there are many regional variations and some don't contain any potato at all.  In Italy, Gnocchi is generally a first course alternative to soup.  Here in the US it seems to be used as the entree more often.

I'd been thinking about trying my hand at Gnocchi and finally decided to when I saw a dish that was Gnocchi, Asparagus, and Bacon.  You know Uncle T has bacon ends and pieces on hand from slicing home cured bacon so this seemed like a perfect opportunity.  There was a left over baguette in the fridge so it got popped back into the oven to crisp up to accompany the meal.

This recipe will easily serve 4 if all you are eating is this and some bread.  Add a salad or some other side and you could make it do for 6 people.

 

Gnocchi with Asparagus and Bacon

Gnocchi with Asparagus and Bacon

2 lbs potatoes
2 cups flour
3 egg yolks
salt, to taste
1 lb Asparagus
1 cup bacon, diced and fried
3 Tbs butter

Bake the potatoes and peel them.  Run the potatoes through a ricer or food mill into a large bowl.  Uncle T uses his box grater.  Add the flour, egg yolks, and salt.  Mix by hand until you have a pliable dough.  Add more flour if necessary.  Make sure you don't over work the dough or your gnocchi will be tough.  Divide the dough into quarters.  On a floured work surface, roll out each quarter into a rope 3/4 to 1 inch thick.  Using a sharp knife, the only kind in Uncle T's kitchen, start cutting the gnocchi in 1/2 inch sections.  If you want to get fancy, roll the gnocchi across a gnocchi board or use the back of a fork to get the traditional ridges.  I didn't bother with that.  Drop gnocchi in boiling well salted water.  The gnocchi is done when it floats.

I cooked my Gnocchi in two batches since I used the pot I'd used to steam the Asparagus.  As the Gnocchi was cut I put it on a floured baking sheet.

While your potatoes are cooking, steam 1 lb of Asparagus but leave it a bit crunchy.  Once the Asparagus is steamed cut the stalks into bite size pieces.  Dice up the bacon of your choice, I used Applewood Smoked Pepper Bacon, and fry until it just starts turning crispy then remove it from the pan.  You'll need a cup of the fried bacon.

In a large skillet, melt 3 Tbs of butter and let it start to brown then add the cooked Gnocchi.  Toss it around to get the Gnocchi coated with the butter and let it start to brown a bit.  Add the Asparagus and the Bacon and keep shaking the skillet to mix them up until they are hot again.

A tasty filling meal

During the combining of all the major components would be a good time to add some fresh herbs to boost the flavor.  Sadly, I didn't think of that until I was plating.  Why have a herb garden if I don't remember to use it?

The baguette that accompanied supper came from the YouTube channel of Artisan Bread with Steve.  His no knead recipes turn out really nice if you don't want to deal with super long rise times for bread.  Here is the link to the baguettes, https://youtu.be/QBX9S5klgN8.  In his video, he uses a baguette tray to shape and keep them separate.  All I did was put them on a baking sheet with some corn meal on it.  They kept their shape and turned out great.



Baguettes hot from the oven

I hope you give both of these a try.  I'll be looking for ways to use Gnocchi as a side or in a different dish.
Uncle T

Zucchini Salad

Yesterday was a fast day for us which mean we severely limit our caloric intake.  I know I've talked about this before.  Yesterday also tied the record high temperature for our area as well.  Given those two facts, I decided that a hot supper was not called for.  I was thinking about something cool, crisp, and light.  Thus was born, the Zucchini Salad.

Go to meals on our fast days are salads in the Fall and Spring, soups featuring Kale in the Fall and Winter, and Zucchini dishes in the Summer.  I've been doing the Zucchini as either spiralized noodles or straight julienned noodles.  I figured that for a cool dish something shorter would be more appropriate.  Given that, I cut the stem off the Zucchini at an angle and used that angle to run the Zucchini through the julienne blades of the mandolin.  That gave nice little 2 - 3 inch long match sticks.  Add some sweet peppers, mushrooms, and pickled beet stems and you have a tasty salad.  To finish the salad I used Uncle T's pickled green tomato vinaigrette.
 
The Zucchini Salad was accompanied by a lightly fried White Bass fillet.  The whole meal came out under 400 calories for each of us.  That could be cut to almost 300 calories simply by seasoning the fish and either baking it or pan frying with some zero calorie non-stick spray.

Quite a meal for under 400 calories

Zucchini Salad, this is a per person recipe.

1 medium zucchini
1 - 2 oz sweet peppers
1 - 2 oz mushrooms
1 oz pickled beet stems
salt
black pepper
Uncle T's pickled green tomato vinaigrette


Julienne the zucchini and put in a deep bowl.  Slice sweet peppers and mushrooms and place on top of the zucchini.  Lay out the pickled beet stems and cut in half to make pieces slightly shorter than the zucchini.  Pour 1 - 2 Tbs of vinaigrette all over.  Toss the salad to mix the components up and evenly spread the vinaigrette.  Plate and add salt and pepper to taste.

A note about Uncle T's pickled green tomato vinaigrette.  I'm not going to give the recipe for this.  One of Uncle T's plans for the future is to be able to market my spice mixes and hot sauces.  The good wife suggested that we should look into the possibility of marketing the vinaigrette also as neither of us has seen anything like it on the market.  You can try to come up with your own but I don't use the normal proportions for making a vinaigrette.

Uncle T's vinaigrette in a cruet that belonged to the good wife's grandmother

Fried White Bass

1 fillet per person
Panko bread crumbs
Uncle T's season salt
Korean fine pepper powder
2 Tbs oil

Put Panko in a pan that is long enough to hold a fillet.  Sprinkle one side of the fillet with season salt and coat evenly.  Place the fillet in the Panko seasoned side down.  Sprinkle the other side with the Korean fine pepper powder.  Shake the pan around to get Panko on both side and press down with the palm of your hand to get some to stick to the fillet.  Put the fillet in a hot skillet that has the 2 Tbs of oil in it.  Let it cook till the edges are dark and turn fillet to other side.  Let that side get to desired doneness and plate.

According to the container, a serving of Panko is 1/4 cup.  The way I do it with these fillets uses less than that for each fillet.  The light coating of  Panko is to give a bit of texture and a slight crunch. 

So, the bottom line, zucchini makes a pretty good salad.  Give it a try sometime.

Uncle T

Ode to a Haggis

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,

Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!

Aboon them a' ye tak your place,

Painch, tripe, or thairm:

Weel are ye wordy o’ a grace

As lang's my arm.

This is not a recent dish but it is a frequent one at our house.  Like I said earlier, we are adventurous eaters and eat things outside the usual American diet.

We first tasted Haggis during our first trip to Scotland.  A kilt shop and tartan museum just outside Edinburgh castle had a snack bar that offered Haggis samples for 50p.  Being as we are always willing to try new things we quickly took advantage.  It was very tasty and we were hooked. 

In case you don't know, Haggis is a way to utilize offal to make a tasty filling meal and to use as much of the animal as possible.  Traditionally, the pluck (heart and lungs) of the sheep and the liver were boiled then minced and mixed with other ingredients then stuffed in the sheep's stomach.  The stomach was sewn shut then boiled to cook the rest of the ingredients.  Haggis is the national dish of Scotland and is the center piece of every Burns Night supper.  You can see a Burns Night Address to the Haggis here, https://youtu.be/qfYFAA4drG4.  This is a very well done version.

Stuffed and sewn up ready to boil

Unfortunately, you can't get proper Haggis in the US thanks to the USDA.  The USDA lists the lungs as not suitable for consumption.  There is an ongoing effort by many groups as well as the British government to get the ban on the importation of Scottish Haggis lifted.  Until that time, the only choice is to eat incomplete Haggis or make it yourself.

This Haggis is the result of a sheep slaughter last year.  In standard Uncle T fashion as much of the offal was utilized as possible.  In this case, we kept the pluck, liver, kidneys, testicles, and the stomach.  The kidneys went into a nice steak and kidney pie.  We called this Rainbow Haggis since the ram we slaughtered was named Rainbow. 

This is why you don't want to over fill

Our typical use for Haggis is for breakfast on a Saturday morning with a nice bowl of porridge.  Definitely a breakfast to keep you going all day.

So, in case you are feeling adventurous and want to make your own, here is how I do it.

Haggis

1 cup heart, cooked and minced
1 cup lung, cooked and minced
1 cup liver, cooked and minced
1 cup steel cut oats
1/2 - 1 cup suet, minced
1 medium onion minced
salt, black pepper to taste
1 stomach, cleaned
cooking liquid from boiling the heart, lung, and liver
Optional
cayenne pepper to taste
1 dram Single Malt Scotch Whisky

After the heart, lung, liver, and suet are minced put them in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Add some salt and black pepper and mix.  Taste the mix and adjust the salt and black pepper as desired.  This is where I add a bit of cayenne pepper.  Add enough of the cooking liquid to moisten the mix without making it soupy.  Start stuffing the mix into the stomach being sure not to over fill.  The stomach will shrink while it cooks.  Sew up the stomach with butcher's twine.  Bring a pot of water to a boil and put the Haggis in.  Bring it back to a low boil and simmer for about 30 minutes.  Remove from the water and be prepared for culinary bliss.

The first cut

Warm, reeking, rich

Some variations I've used are venison and feral hog Haggis.  When we were in Texas my keeping the offal impressed the ranch owner and his hunting guide/game manager.  Even better, the ranch owner told a friend about it and the friend asked him to have the guides keep all the offal that the hunters didn't want. 

You can find everything but the lungs at the grocery store if you want to try an American style Haggis. Pig stomachs can be used to stuff as an alternative. If your store does carry pig stomach try an international market or Hispanic store.  If you don't want to go this route, these folks http://www.caledoniankitchen.com/ make a decent canned Haggis.  We used canned Haggis while we were in Germany.  The way to do this is to cut both ends off the can and push the contents out whole.  Slice it into rounds of your desired thickness and pan fry with a little butter to keep it from sticking.  Serve with eggs or porridge.  Either way, I hope you give Haggis a try.

Uncle T

Cabbage and Shrimp Combo

For our spring garden, I'd put in beets, carrots, lettuce, and spinach.  During a visit to the nursery looking for herbs I saw that they had cole crop plants on sale.  So, instead of leaving empty handed we left with some cabbage and brussels sprouts sets.

Sadly, the brussels sprouts never amounted to anything as they were a constant target of a variety of insects.  The cabbage fared only slightly better.  The chief culprits in the attack against the cabbage were wasps.  They would chew holes in the leaves and carry big balls of cabbage fiber away to build their nests.  Plus the weather started getting too hot for them and time was drawing near for me to put in the summer crops.  In the end, I had 3 heads of white cabbage and 3 puny heads of red cabbage.

Not being one to waste anything needlessly, I decided to use them to make more German style sour kraut.  I figured the red cabbage mixed in would make it colorful as well as tasty.  As you will see, that was not to be.

The 3 white cabbages yielded 1.5 lbs of shredded cabbage and I got about 1.5 cups of shredded red cabbage.  I told you the red cabbages were puny.  The small amount of red cabbage gave me an idea of an alternate condiment to go with supper while the white cabbage was destined to be sour kraut.

Freshly shredded

German style Sour Kraut

2 lbs cabbage, shredded
1-2 Tbs kosher or sea salt
10 juniper berries
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 cup water
1 tsp salt


Put the shredded cabbage in a bowl large enough to allow you to mix it around.  Add the other ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Let rest for 10 minutes.  Mix again and let rest for another 10 minutes up to an hour.  Put the cabbage mixture in a sterilized quart canning jar packing the cabbage down tightly.  It should produce its own brine as you do this.  Once all the cabbage mixture is in the jar, if there is not enough brine to cover the cabbage mix the water and 1 tsp salt and pour over it to the top of the jar.  Put the lid on and let it sit on a counter for 2 - 3  weeks.  You should put the jar in a cake pan as the fermentation process will cause the fluid to overflow.  After the 2 - 3 weeks the fermentation bubbles will stop.  At this time, if the brine doesn't cover the kraut add more brine made with 1 cup water and 1 tsp salt.  Refrigerate and enjoy.

2 pint jars ready to ferment

This German style Sour Kraut is excellent on top of grilled bratwurst, as a side with Kassler (a German style ham), or just as a crunchy snack.  Not only is it tasty you get the benefits of naturally fermented food. 

Now comes the Uncle T experiment.  We had some sandwich rolls left over from a previous meal so I was wanting to use them.  The sandwich rolls were made with the hamburger bun recipe I shared in the Kimchi Burger post in April.  You just make long buns instead of round ones.  I had decided on my version of a shrimp po'boy with a chipotle remoulade sauce.  The red cabbage brought the idea of a Chipotle Red Cabbage Slaw.



Chipotle Red Cabbage Slaw

I've never been a fan of creamy type slaws because they always seem to be swimming in the sauce where vinegar based slaws you can at least drain easily.  So I made just enough of the sauce to lightly coat the red cabbage.

Chipotle Red Cabbage Slaw

1. 5 cups red cabbage, shredded
1 Tbs cilantro, minced
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp chipotle powder or to taste

Toss the red cabbage and cilantro together.  In a bowl, mix the other ingredients then add to the cabbage.  Mix well to evenly coat the cabbage.  Taste is and adjust any seasoning.  If the slaw is too hot for you, add a bit more honey to counter the heat.

To build the po'boy, slice the warmed roll but don't slice all the way through.  Put a layer of the slaw on the bottom portion.  Top that with freshly fried shrimp.  Yes, I prepped and fried my own shrimp.  Admire your handiwork and dig in.



As you can see, even Uncle T sometimes resorts to frozen french fries.   I also added a 2 or 3 more shrimp to the po'boy after the picture was taken.  I must say that I'm quite pleased with how the combo turned out.  I can't wait to put some of the fresh sour kraut on some brats in about a month.

Keep in mind, you can turn a less than desirable outcome into something very desirable.  I hope you give one or both of these a try.  I'm sure you'll like them.

Uncle T

Bread and Pasta

I see it's been a bit since my last post.  The garden has been taking time since I had to pull the beets and carrots and tend to the tomatoes, peppers, and other early plants.  The lettuce and spinach are no more as the heat made them bolt.  That's OK though because the zucchini is coming in so we have zucchini noodles for our fast day meals.  I now have to till the area where I've pulled stuff up and get it ready for peas and beans.

Lately, I've been making all our pasta but we didn't throw out the ready made stuff.  In an effort to free up space for jars of canned vegetables I finished up a bag of pasta we bought from the hippie store some time back.  The hippie store is Organic Food Depot and they have good prices on bulk grains and lentils and sometimes the pasta.  The one I used for this was a Porcini Mushroom pasta.  This recipe would work with any long pasta I believe.

Pasta also screams for good hot crusty bread to accompany it.  I decided to try a new recipe I'd come across on YouTube.  The channel is Artisan Bread with Steve.  Here is the link to the one I made, https://youtu.be/Q4DQLB7_U1Q.  It is the No-Knead “Turbo” Bread in a Skillet.  I didn't change anything with this recipe this time.  I'm not sure if this technique would work with adding things like cheese or herbs to the bread but I'll likely try it at some point.

Ready to proof

 

Fresh from the oven

Look at that texture.

For the pasta dish there is terribly complex ingredient list.  OK, not really.  I used some thick sliced pancetta that I'd cured a while back.  You can find this in the Ooooh, Pancetta post in May.

Pancetta and Mushroom Pasta, serves 4

Ingredients:

4 - 6 oz pancetta, diced
8 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
8 oz dry pasta

Slowly cook diced pancetta in a large skillet until hot and just under being crispy.  Transfer the pancetta to a bowl leaving the rendered fat in the skillet.  Cook the sliced mushrooms in the rendered pancetta grease until desired doneness.  Cook the pasta according to package directions to almost al dente.  Put the pancetta back in the skillet with the mushrooms and turn up the heat.  Pull the pasta out of the water and put in the skillet with the mushrooms and pancetta.  Don't worry about draining the pasta.  Use tongs to mix everything together and make sure it's heated through.

Diced Pancetta starting to cook

Pancetta can now be found in most grocery stores but you could also use bacon for this recipe.  I've used the ends and pieces from slicing home cured bacon to make this dish.  Though the curing and flavoring are different for pancetta and bacon in simple terms pancetta is basically unsmoked bacon.

I've also thinly sliced red and orange sweet peppers to add to this dish for a bit of color and texture.

A good serving

Bread on the plate, time to dig in.

This meal is quick and easy to fix and lots of flavor.  The bread takes a bit of time but that is mostly letting it proof, the actual work is quick and easy.  Give the video a look and try it yourself.  I've done some other recipes of his and they've turned out very well also.

Uncle T